This report traces the history of a number of leading Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), showing how they have grown, how they have succeeded, and where they have fallen short. It documents a host of budgetary and regulatory barriers that local, state, and national policymakers will need to address if CMOs are to fulfill the expectations that are increasingly being thrust upon them.

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This report traces the history of a number of leading Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), showing how they have grown, how they have succeeded, and where they have fallen short. It documents a host of budgetary and regulatory barriers that local, state, and national policymakers will need to address if CMOs are to fulfill the expectations that are increasingly being thrust upon them. It also suggests that achieving the core mission that unites all leading CMOs—providing a great education to the most disadvantaged students—requires extraordinary levels of organizational, financial, and human resources. This lesson has important implications not just for the charter school movement, but for public education as a whole.